“That son of a bitch…so I actually watched you and Zak Ottow’s interview last night, it popped up on Youtube, which was cool. I don’t wanna dislike the guy, but I don’t like him. I’ve asked for specific match ups in the UFC and as soon as it doesn’t happen, I drop it and move on. I know what happened, he watched my Jordan Mein fight and he thinks I’m going to be easy to lay and pray on. He’s looking for an easy fight, which makes me just dislike the guy’s character. I fought good wrestlers and grapplers, I fought Derrick Krantz and scrambled up to my feet instantly every time. Gassed him out in the first and finished the fight, love Derrick Krantz by the way. Same way with (Keita) Nakamura, great grappler, but he was able to get me or take me down. With Jordan Mein, I just wanted to stand…I wanted to get a big knockout finish. When we weren’t standing, I never made the switch to wanna grapple. It’s not that I could not grapple, for whatever reason and in that moment, I just decided not to and by the time I got my shit together…it was the third round and it was just too late. He’s just looking for an easy fight and that just makes me dislike the guy, the fights not gonna be easy. I have been working get ups like you wouldn’t believe, especially with the guys at Fortis. My game plan again is to do as much damage as possible, but this time I’m gonna like it even more. If Zak’s not prepared for a three round bloody war, he’s gonna be in for a wicked surprise. He knows my game plan is to punch him hard in the face, that’s whats going to happen. I’ve been working on some slick subs…some really good counter wrestling, my wrestling is as good as its ever been because I have been training against it. It’s funny…I’m preparing for the worst, which is him to lay and pray, but I’m hoping for the best…which is him to stand and strike. Which he actually does a little more than I had thought when I took the fight, which is good news for me. I’m looking forward to this fight,” says Morono in an exclusive interview with Fightful’s James Lynch.

Morono has won just two of his last five under the UFC banner, which makes the bout against Ottow that much more critical.

The welterweight prospect has another big reason to get the win at UFC Wichita, which is that he is looking to sign a new deal with the UFC afterwards.

“That’s the goal, that’s the plan…look to re-sign after this. Again, I absolute love being in the UFC. I have an awesome career running my gym with my amazing wife and thankfully, business is good. I love my students to death, everything fighting wise is extracurricular. So I’m not doing this for the money, I’m doing this for like the thrill of the battle. My main goal…it’s not to make money, but it’s to stay in the UFC. After this fight, hopefully I’m healthy enough to pick something up really fast and Sean Shelby knows…I pick up a lot of short notice fights when they ask. We’ll take whatever they give me, not a lot of big names in line. Plus I don’t really want to look too far ahead of this fight, my plan is to beat up Zak Ottow really bad and then to just take the next best opportunity they offer. I always like fighting the old veterans, it was cool seeing Thiago Alves get a win…Diego Sanchez fighting Mickey Gall. I just like seeing these OG guys fighting and winning, hopefully I get to fight one of these guys,” says Morono.

UFC Fight Night Wichita takes place on Saturday, March 9 from the Intrust Bank Arena in Wichita, Kansas with Derrick Lewis and Junior Dos Santos headlining. Fightful is providing live coverage of the event, which streams live on ESPN+.